Justin Brayton Charges From Last Place to a Top Five in Indy

March 27, 2007

With his family in town from Iowa to help him celebrate his 23rd birthday, Justin Brayton began the night feeling great, and was fourth fastest in both of his practice sessions. He took third place in his Heat and went directly into the Main event with a good gate pick.

On the start of the Main, the gate moved, but did not drop, causing Justin and several other riders to jump. Unfortunately, Justin’s front tire got wedged in the gate, and while the rest of the pack was on their way to the first turn, Justin was pulling his front tire free.

At the first turn, Justin had passed a few riders to start the race in approximately 16th. “I could not believe my luck; I have been practicing my starts, because I know with a good start, I can run with the leaders. I am in the best shape of my life, and want to show everyone what I know I can do. I saw the gate move, and jumped. The tire got wedged, and I knew I had my work cut out for me. I started out dead last and think I passed a couple of people in the first corner.

Justin wasted no time picking off riders, and by the fifth lap, he was in 7th. Among the riders ahead of him were Mike Alessi and Matt Goerke. He put his head down and kept charging forward. “I saw their names on the Circuit City scoreboard and they were Fourth and Fifth, and they were way ahead of me, as I was working my way through traffic. I wasn’t sure how many laps were left, so I just kept charging forward as hard as possible, and ended up passing Alessi on lap 14, and Goerke on lap 15. Unfortunately, Justin ran out of laps to continue charging, and would end up Fifth on the night, and tied for Sixth overall in the series.

“I just want to thank all of the people who have helped me out in getting me to where I am. As soon as I get home, I am going directly to the test track to pound out more laps and continue working on my starts. I am looking forward to the next couple of rounds in Dallas and Detroit, and I can’t wait to race at the East West shootout in Las Vegas.

Justin would like to thank team MotoworldRacing.com, PPG, Yamaha, as well as his personal sponsors: NOTW.com, American Racing Wheels, Cytosport, Kicker, and O’gio. For more information on Justin Brayton, contact Steve Aldaco at (951) 205-3348 or aldacos1@verizon.net.